“the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration — is ridiculous.”
~Barrack Obama
Totally a true story.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
YouTube Debates
Firstly for anyone that missed the debates last night, you can find all the questions and their responses at www.youtube.com/debates.
Last night the democratic candidates hung out with Anderson Cooper @ cnn and got their debate on. This is nothing new candidates have been debating in the public news forum for years, however this year the questions did not come from a panel of voters or a journalist. This year the people asking the questions were the users of youtube, and boy did they ask some tough ones. Here is the video the event opened with.
This video does a good job of setting the tone for most of the other questions asked through out the night. The questions were arranged in groups depending on their area of concern. Out of 3000 submissions 39 were chosen and shown. One video shows a man singing a song about taxes, while another shows an uninsured breast cancer patient asking politicians how they feel about her lack of insurance greatly decreasing her odds of survival. Even the religious community made it in on this one with a video that has a an African American Reverend asking candidates how they feel about religious beliefs and their place in politics(The reverend was against religion in politics.)
The best question of the night(IMO) was this one.
This question did a great job of showing that nothing about political debates has changed. The problem of political debates is two sided. The first being the nature of the questions, which with the advent of the youtube debates has been changed. The other issue is that politicians will flat out refuse to answer direct questions no matter how insignificant they may be. Out of all the candidates only 3 answered the entire question. John Edwards, Barrack Obama, and that one guy that made fun of the other dudes wife.
I find it very troubling that I live in a time where the people who lead my country cannot complete a social learning activity that 2nd graders have been able to breeze through since the words social learning activity existed.
Despite that rant I do want to give major props to Anderson Cooper, he did a very good job of not kissing everyone's ass and trying to make them stay on topic.
Last night the democratic candidates hung out with Anderson Cooper @ cnn and got their debate on. This is nothing new candidates have been debating in the public news forum for years, however this year the questions did not come from a panel of voters or a journalist. This year the people asking the questions were the users of youtube, and boy did they ask some tough ones. Here is the video the event opened with.
This video does a good job of setting the tone for most of the other questions asked through out the night. The questions were arranged in groups depending on their area of concern. Out of 3000 submissions 39 were chosen and shown. One video shows a man singing a song about taxes, while another shows an uninsured breast cancer patient asking politicians how they feel about her lack of insurance greatly decreasing her odds of survival. Even the religious community made it in on this one with a video that has a an African American Reverend asking candidates how they feel about religious beliefs and their place in politics(The reverend was against religion in politics.)
The best question of the night(IMO) was this one.
This question did a great job of showing that nothing about political debates has changed. The problem of political debates is two sided. The first being the nature of the questions, which with the advent of the youtube debates has been changed. The other issue is that politicians will flat out refuse to answer direct questions no matter how insignificant they may be. Out of all the candidates only 3 answered the entire question. John Edwards, Barrack Obama, and that one guy that made fun of the other dudes wife.
I find it very troubling that I live in a time where the people who lead my country cannot complete a social learning activity that 2nd graders have been able to breeze through since the words social learning activity existed.
Despite that rant I do want to give major props to Anderson Cooper, he did a very good job of not kissing everyone's ass and trying to make them stay on topic.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
A Handful of Packages!
In life everyone has things that get under their skin, pet peeves if you will. Some times though People encounter an action in life that goes beyond the scope of the word pet peeve. The only words that are fit to describe these instances are castastrophical annoyance. I'm pretty sure one of those two isn't a real word. The annoyance is so intense that a non existing word is the only thing that can describe it.
Today I want to take a moment to thank Taco Bell for being the biggest castastrophical annoyance in my life.
Taco Bell has served me faithfully through the years. They have provided vital nutrients that my body needs to transverse this wild urban jungle. Never have they been short on grade ? meat when I need it. Their fountains have never left my mouth wanting for the most awesome taste of Mountain Dew. When I needed lettuce the most, they never lettuced me down...
lettuced me down... jesus...What has the interwebzzz come too.
I could continue on with the list of things that Taco Bell has contributed to my life, but I won't. What I will do is talk about the one massive ulcer that mars every existing Taco Bell in the known universe. Insufficient mild sauce supplification(also not a real word) when going through the drive thru. At first I thought it only a temporary nuisance, but then I noticed that at every Taco Bell the story was the same. Only one packet per item ordered. Given my extensive history in the fast casual dining world I figured that this one packet practice was a money saving technique devised by the Taco Bell Desk Jockeys back at corporate.
So then I began asking for extra packets, still only one per item. I even went as far as to specify the exact number of packets I wanted. Still only one.
Now when I stop by for a 4th meal during the wee hours of the morning I use ridiculous synonyms for a lot or big such as Ginormous, Collosal, or "Enough to kill a horse".
To this day I still only receive one packet per item.
Like I said catastrophical annoyance.
Today I want to take a moment to thank Taco Bell for being the biggest castastrophical annoyance in my life.
Taco Bell has served me faithfully through the years. They have provided vital nutrients that my body needs to transverse this wild urban jungle. Never have they been short on grade ? meat when I need it. Their fountains have never left my mouth wanting for the most awesome taste of Mountain Dew. When I needed lettuce the most, they never lettuced me down...
lettuced me down... jesus...What has the interwebzzz come too.
I could continue on with the list of things that Taco Bell has contributed to my life, but I won't. What I will do is talk about the one massive ulcer that mars every existing Taco Bell in the known universe. Insufficient mild sauce supplification(also not a real word) when going through the drive thru. At first I thought it only a temporary nuisance, but then I noticed that at every Taco Bell the story was the same. Only one packet per item ordered. Given my extensive history in the fast casual dining world I figured that this one packet practice was a money saving technique devised by the Taco Bell Desk Jockeys back at corporate.
So then I began asking for extra packets, still only one per item. I even went as far as to specify the exact number of packets I wanted. Still only one.
Now when I stop by for a 4th meal during the wee hours of the morning I use ridiculous synonyms for a lot or big such as Ginormous, Collosal, or "Enough to kill a horse".
To this day I still only receive one packet per item.
Like I said catastrophical annoyance.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Life and Death
Lately I think a lot about dying. I don't really think about how I'll die, I just hope it will be awesome. I think more about how I'll know if I'm happy when I die. Assuming that I don't die the instant I realize I'm about too, what will I look back on and be happy about.
Work is one of the major things that plague me, I work 40 hours a week. That leaves me 128 hours I sleep 8 hours a night. That leaves me with 72 hours of waking time. That means in a 7 day week I am only getting to actually LIVE 3 days... That is 156 days a year, which means I waste 200 days a year on work. How would I pay my bills and buy the things I wanted/need if I didn't have a job. How would I get my rockin new Wii and a new PC!? I most certainly need a new couch and a sweet HD TV! Then I think, what will all of those things mean to me as I'm dying; Will I be happy because I died with an HD TV, because I traded 200 days of my finite human life, for a TV, and 200 more for a new sofa and fridge?
I think the things that will make me happy as I die, are the people I have known, The places I have seen, and the way that I have lived. Knowing this I still lack the will power to break away from the "real world". I'm sure as I die, Ill regret that the most.
Work is one of the major things that plague me, I work 40 hours a week. That leaves me 128 hours I sleep 8 hours a night. That leaves me with 72 hours of waking time. That means in a 7 day week I am only getting to actually LIVE 3 days... That is 156 days a year, which means I waste 200 days a year on work. How would I pay my bills and buy the things I wanted/need if I didn't have a job. How would I get my rockin new Wii and a new PC!? I most certainly need a new couch and a sweet HD TV! Then I think, what will all of those things mean to me as I'm dying; Will I be happy because I died with an HD TV, because I traded 200 days of my finite human life, for a TV, and 200 more for a new sofa and fridge?
I think the things that will make me happy as I die, are the people I have known, The places I have seen, and the way that I have lived. Knowing this I still lack the will power to break away from the "real world". I'm sure as I die, Ill regret that the most.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Music: Gym Class Heroes!
Just bought the CD for this band the other day. Definitely a worthy purchase.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Of Cubicles and Men
Some say that home is where the heart is. I say home is where you spend the majority of your waking hours. For me home is a beige 8x8 piece of space in the corporate offices of a fortune 400 company. To help others get to know me and who I am I thought it would be a good idea to show everyone one what kind of pad I live in.
We start the tour of my luxurious cubicle with a stunning display of duel displays! redundancy is a good thing in IT. As you can probably tell the picture was taken with the utmost privacy in mind. Notice the blurring of the screen, props to the photographer on this shot. One thing I wold like to point out here is the custom designed All American monitor stands. I know you are thinking those are just reams of paper but I assure you they most certainly are not!
Moving right along, more so to the left than the right really. This is actually the guest area. I use this anytime we have a new hire that needs a place to watch training videos. As is evident I furnish all new employees with some thinking putty and a water bottle. Also take note of the reports to the side. Its important for later.
We start the tour of my luxurious cubicle with a stunning display of duel displays! redundancy is a good thing in IT. As you can probably tell the picture was taken with the utmost privacy in mind. Notice the blurring of the screen, props to the photographer on this shot. One thing I wold like to point out here is the custom designed All American monitor stands. I know you are thinking those are just reams of paper but I assure you they most certainly are not!
Moving right along, more so to the left than the right really. This is actually the guest area. I use this anytime we have a new hire that needs a place to watch training videos. As is evident I furnish all new employees with some thinking putty and a water bottle. Also take note of the reports to the side. Its important for later.
As we continue further to the left we see my unwitting boss, posing for his web debut. One of the luxuries of working for such a large company is that every cube has 2 windows. One into the cube infront of it and one into the one behind it. This design is very reminiscent of the novel 1984, a favorite read of mine. My boss probably doesn't even know what a novel is.
A look beneath the window reveals many untouched reports and a book related to a project I am working on.
As we turn left once more we are greeted with my cubbies rec area. As you can see I have head phones for super jamming! A lightsaber used to settle interdepartmental disputes. Hygiene being very important to me I keep a minicow toothbrush holder. It reminds me of clean teeth through out the day. 
Sometimes I throw sweet parties, in my cube. We play some pretty awesome Jams. The fire chief says I can only have 3 people in the club...err my cube at a time but sometimes we break the law and squeeze in 5 or 6. Pretty Rockin.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Blunch: 7-2-07
Took these pics While on my lunch break today. This is a small park near where I am employed. I decided to hop on a small pig trail and came out next to this creek. Mud + dress shoes = Slippery!Click the for bigger versions. Taken with my LG.
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